45B Hamilton’s account of the east indies.

Buro is a’fo a Dutch ifland, producing cloves and nutmegs.' It lies weft-north-weitof Amboina , about 35 leagues diftant. It is about 20 leagues long, and in the"middle 10 broad.

Pullo-ouby lies in the way between Buro and Gilolo , the largeft of all the Moluccaiflands. The fouth part of Gilolo is called Batta-china and the equator cuts theifland in the middle. On the weft fide of Gilolo , and at a little diftance from it, heBatchian, Matchian, Montil, Tidor, and Ternatey. They are but fmall iflands, butproduce the greateft quantities of cloves and nutmegs of all the Molucca iflands.

One Captain Ethrington, in a fhip called the Refolution, made a trip to Gilolo about the year 1692 and got 40 tuns of fpice. He called at Batavia in his way toEngland, and the Dutch being very folicitous to know where he had been, he freelytold them, to let them fee the Engliih were not quite ignorant of that navigation, ifthey had a mind to follow it.

I now continue my courfe weftward along the equator, to the ifland Celebes, thecall-fide of which ifland, and a great number of fmaller ones, are little frequented byftrangers, but on the fouth-weft corner of it is Maccafler, where the Dutch have^ a-factory, but its chief produft is corn, which indeed all thofe eaftern iflands abound in,and confequently in poultry. The natives are of a light olive colour, and the womenwell fliaped, and pretty beautiful, for which reafon they are in great efteem amongthe Dutch and Chinefe, who buy them for bed-fellows, and often marry them. Themen and women are both (hort in ftature, but well featured, and well limbed. Theyare very loving and faithful if well ufed, but exceeding revengeful if ill ufed. Thecountry is populous and very large, being almoft 200 leagues long, but the breadthunequal. At the broadeft it is about 70 leagues. About 30 leagues weftward lies

Chap. XLV. — Gives an Account of Borneo .

THE great ifland of Bornew, or Borneo, the largeft except California , in theknown world. The weft fide of it is- for the moft part defert. On the fouth-end liesPullo-laut, a moft excellent harbour for {hipping. The ifland is but thinly peopled,its produfl: being nothing but rice, but the north-end of it lies near many rivers thatcome out of the pepper countries. The ifland is about 20 leagues long, but of anunequal breadth, though in fome parts it is 12 leagues broad.

There is a channel runs between Pullo lout and the ifland of Borneo , about tvtomiles broad, fome places narrower, and fome broader, and from feven to five fathomsdeep, all the way through, and there are feveral rifing grounds along that ftiore, fit j- 0build houfes on, which is a rarity on the fea coafts of Borneo , feldorn to be met witn*I heard Mr. Sylvanus Landen, who had been chief of Borneo , fay, that he muc»wondered why the Company of England fhould have fettled a factory at Banjar-maflfeen, where they were forced for feveral years to keep their factory on floats 0great trees tied together, and made faft to trees growing in the water, on the fide 01 &river, with cables made of rottans; and when they built a factory, they were forcefirft to drive poles in the ground, to make a foundation, as the Dutch do at Amft er 'dam, and raife earth on them to build upon.

Captain Barry, a very ingenious gentleman, drew the plan, but died before t owork was brought to any great forwardnefs; and Mr. Cunningham, who came thithefrom Pullo-condore, when that factory was cut off by their Maccafler foldiers, came to

the head of the Company’s affairs. He was bred a furgeon, and had turned virtuofo >

wouto